Up In The Clouds
by Purplenurpl
Summary: Jemma was up in the clouds. Literally. Part one.
1. Chapter 1

**Up In The Clouds**

_I was up in the clouds. Literally. I felt the harsh wind through my feathers but they could have been caresses for all I cared. I folded my wings up behind me and prepared for a steep dive. G-force rippled my cheeks. My eyes were forced open, the noise of the wind a roar. It was incredible. It was my life._

Jemma was on the swing with her eyes shut. She was imagining she was soaring, skimming the tops of the clouds with her fingertips. She didn't see the van. Or the men in white cloaks. Or the gun.

Jemma woke up. She slowly adjusted to the room around her. White registered. A lot of white. She opened the rest of her eyes slowly. A machine was beeping loudly to her left. She tried to lift her arm, but found she could not. Upon looking, she gave a start. It was tied down and covered in blood. The white cloaked man to her right finished what he was writing and turned around.

"Welcome to the School. Here we will…teach…you how to obey our every command, or you will be punished severely. Just sit tight while we do all the learning. Have a good day, now."

With a flourish, he left the room. Something cold ran into her arm. Then it was black.

_I pulled out at the last second, giggling as the land stopped blurring. Snap. I looked around. This is… or is meant to be… a completely quiet part of the canyon. The peace is disrupted. I'm sure its Erasers. I prepared to fight, or flight._

Jemma came to slowly. She had a throbbing pain in her back, head, and basically all over. She tried to move. She managed to sit up without bumping her head. She opened her eyes. It was dark. She spread out her arms, and they stopped with a _thunk. _She felt all around her, but she was trapped in a tiny box. Closed in on all sides. Her eyes adjusted and she could see as if it was day. A small breeze rustled her hair and she turned around. There was a grate in front of her. Dim light filtered through. She shifted position and heard a rustle. She stopped dead, and then probed her back with her fingers. There were two, feathery objects strapped to her back. Had to be strapped. Had to. She flexed, and they opened slightly, nearly filling the remaining space. Wings. She had wings.

Jemmas heart thumped in her chest, and she started hyperventilating. Between gasping breaths, she heard a noise.

"Hey, hey! Just take a deep breath, calm down a little, and you'll be fine. Don't worry; I won't hurt you like those other guys. I'm in a crate too.What's your name? "

"J-Jemma…"

"Well, nice to meet you Jemma, I'm Alex."

Jemma had a close look through the grate. Across the other side of the small room, sat another crate. Inside, somehow she could see that clearly, was a small boy. Not that young, perhaps Jemma's age, but small in stature. He had short brown hair, and big blue eyes. His braces were fit crookedly. He had the palest skin and large, hazel-wood coloured wings. He was _gorgeous_.

"So… Alex, how long have you been here?"

Alex grimaced. "Since I was five. I don't remember what outside looks like."

"And so what is this place? Where is it? How did I get these? I fell funny. I miss my mum and my dad and my brother and…"

"Wow wow wow… Calm down Jemma. Don't get your knickers in a knot." She giggled. "From what I've heard from the white cloaks, this is called the School. All these people are scientists; they want to learn about what happens if they get people and mush them into birds. So out of the deal, we get locked in a tiny cage while they do horrible experiments on us, and we get faster, stronger, better eyesight…and wings."

"…Are we angels?"

"No, we are mutants."

**5 years later…**

"Did you know that there is a disease called osteoporosis?"

"No…Did you know that when hippos fight, it's a contest to see who has the bigger mouth?"

"No… Did you know that they tie up baby bulls in rope and when they are big they think they cannot escape?"

"No… Did you-wait"

Jemma was thinking. What if the same thing happened to them? She was 14 now, probably. That must count for something, strength wise. She voiced her opinion to Alex, and he agreed whole heartedly. They always thought that they were not strong enough. It was time to bust out of this joint!

End of part one.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Silver Lining**

Alex rattled his grate again. And again. To no avail. It had been hours.

"Wait Alex! Someone's coming!"

Alex stopped suddenly, and curled up into a ball, apparently asleep. The white cloaked man opened the door and walked in. He opened Jemma's cage and gave her an injection. Sleep was immediate. He carried her out and walked down the hall. Inside a much larger room than previously, were a treadmill and a team of scientists with probes. Weekly exercise had begun. They strapped her to the tread mill and after a few minutes she began to stir. They turned the treadmill on. Fast. If she didn't pull it together soon, she would be in for a shock. Literally.

_There were too many of them. Twenty, at least. I decided to escape. I built up the necessary pressure in my legs to launch myself up into the air. I unfolded my wings. I jumped. Shakily, at first and then faster, and higher-smoother. The sun shone off my wings, giving the lower ones a purplish hue. A shadow rose next to me. Alex. He liked to sneak up on me. We held hands and flew even higher, up near the clouds. All thoughts of Erasers forgotten. I looked at him and smiled. An unnatural breeze stirred out hair. It was like magic._

Jemma opened her eyes and gritted her teeth. How many times were they going to make her run this stupid course? Climb over the low wall, crawl under the mesh and run through the maze. It was getting very repetitive, and she was sick of it. Finally being run down, she fell and refused to get back up, no matter how many times they shocked her.

"Ok, she went down. 4 hours, 38 minutes. Not bad…'

Someone had to carry her back to her cage. She was too tired to care.

Jemma woke up and had a sudden idea.

"Alex! We don't need to break the grate! There is just this little latch here…"

Jemma began thumping the very edge of the grate. She heard the latch rattle in its lock. She turned onto her back and pounded it with her feet. Once, twice, thrice. She was strong. She was 14. The latch was week. The latch would not defeat her. The grate gave one last feeble rattle before the latch gave way. The door swung open, and fresh air filtered in. She was free. Free!

Quickly, she scrambled out of her hated prison and rushed over to Alex's. He was frantically pounding the edge of his grate. She lifted the latch and he thundered out, faster than her. They grasped each other for dear life as the idea of freedom registered in their minds. They went to the door and they ran.

_We swooped down to about a mile above the tree tops, and then steadily glided our way to the mountains. From here, we could see the edge of the ocean. It was a huge expanse of glittering blue. The sun was setting and the blues of the sky faded into purples then pinks then oranges. We settled down in the arms of an old willow tree, and then we fell asleep._

They were running. For over two hours they had been running, and they were exhausted. This was the fastest they had ever run, but that was just because Erasers were chasing them. The forest around them flashed by, and Alex had long since given up gasping at every old thing rediscovered. Jemma shuddered to a stop, Alex almost running into her. A thick gorge, about 10 metres across, stopped them in their haste. They heard the Erasers growling; somewhere close behind them in the brush. They knew what they had to do. Experimentally, they flapped their wings for the first time. They had never flown before, much less glided.

"I can't do this!"

"Alex! We have to. There's no other choice."

Jemma opened her wings out as wide as they would go. She started to run. She jumped of the edge off the cliff, and lay as if she was diving, hands out front. She opened her eyes and she prayed. And could not believe her eyes. She was_ flying_. Well, gliding, but it was close enough. A small stream wound its way far beneath her. A small updraft kept her aloft. The edge of the crevasse drew closer. She flapped her wings once, twice. It felt entirely natural. She cleared the edge, and continued gliding, all the way until she gracefully smashed into the ground in a heap. Alex soon followed and landed directly on top of her, very neatly. It was a good thing he had hollow bones. The Erasers stopped on the edge of the canyon, and they snarled at the pair. Then they left to the right, in search of other ways across.

Jemma watched the fear in Alex's eyes turn to relief. It made his eyes bright up adorably, so much so that she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before continuing up the hill. Alex followed, blushing deeply and a little dazed.

After a few more hours of walking, they came across a large meadow. It had a stream running through it and wildflowers dotting the edges. Orange and apple trees lined the side. It was beautiful. It shined like the meadow in the twilight books and movies, except it wasn't gay.

They lay down beside each other, watching the birds frolic in the trees. Again, not gay. After a while, they decided to try it.

Jemma ran down the gentle slope, as fast as she could. The wind tangled her hair and squeezed her eyes shut- but she forced the open. She flapped her wings once, twice, thrice… and pushed off the ground. She soared above the treetops- it was exhilarating. The wind ruffled her feathers and she tilted to the right and turned in a circle, returning to where Alex was starting to run. Soon, he joined her up there, up to where the weather was cooler, and they could see the ocean from where they were. The sun started to rise, and the sky was filled with small clouds. The new sunlight reflected off them in such a way that they appeared to have a silver lining. Jemma and Alex tried to fly up into the clouds but they were too unskilled to fly for that long. Or very well. After a few minutes, they both lost control and nose-dived into the river. It made quite a splash. So loud in fact, that the birds flew off their perches and into the distance. Alex and Jemma laughed. He had a beautiful voice. Very cloud has a silver lining. At least they were safe, and had food and shelter. At least they had each other. Then they heard a wolf howl. A near human howl. Every silver lining had a cloud.

End of part Two


	3. Chapter 3

The Storm Inside3

They came across a town. It wasn't a very big one, but Alex had never seen one before. He gasped at every building, and gawped at every car. He stared at everyone and they stared back. Luckily, not because they had wings (as they were neatly folded under their shirts) but because they were _short_. About 1 and a quarter metres. And walking around as if they had no idea what they were doing. Which they didn't.

_I woke up and gave Alex a quick peck on the cheek. He gave me a big hug and we commenced flying. We knew where we were going, but had no compass or map. The weather turned cold and harsh after a few hours. A storm started to brew and we sheltered in a small cave. We didn't want the laptop getting wet. I went to the mouth of the cave and leaned against the wall. Alex came up behind me and wrapped his arm around my waist. He slid something into my hand. It was a purple knuckleduster. He must have bought it when we visited that city just after the earthquake. He whispered in my ear:_

_Happy birthday Jemma. _

They had come across the town after escaping from Erasers, who seemed to always know where they were. Jemma and Alex had scuttled under a dumpster and the smell masked their scent. (But they didn't know that) They crawled out and looked around in wonder.

The buildings were tall, and there was no grass. A few small trees dotted the around the broad road. The road was so full of strange things that moved really fast. People crossed the road from a bridge that soared overhead. It was all so large and terrifying. It was also very messy. People were running everywhere, and dust billowed in clouds. Sirens shouted out in the distance and lots of people were screaming. Alex was confused. They were like everyone else, weren't they? Covered in dust, lost, and confused? Why were so many people going into the flashing vans? Were they ok?

Jemma looked around at the ambulances and the injured people. She hoped that their arrival was not the cause of the chaos. Someone in blue grabbed her arm she yelped and backed away. The blue man came closer, the picked her up and shoved her in an ambulance. Alex bounded after her.

"Wait! Let me go with her. I'm her brother."

Jemma was shrieking as the ambulance man shoved her on to a bed. He slapped her, and she stopped.

"Now, I know you're in shock, but there's been an earthquake and that building collapsed,"

_So that was the commotion_, Alex thought.

"And we want to take you to the hospital where you'll be checked for any injuries. We know it's scary, but we'll find your mommy and daddy."

Jemma rolled her eyes. Was she nine? She kicked him below the belt and he doubled over, gasping. Jemma wasn't going anywhere. She grabbed Alex's arm and they left the pandemonium.

A while later, they found themselves in a building with lots of other dirty, crying people. They had been herded there and told to wait for lost property. For nine hours. And then finally it came. People were grabbing and scrambling for bits of food and clothing. Jemma and Alex managed to grab some different clothes and a backpack, with something large in it. They decided to puzzle it out later. After everyone was let outside for some exercise, the pair knew it was time to escape. They shot up into the air, surrounded by gasps and the coughs as the dust from their feathers fell into open mouths.

They soared upwards, climbing faster and faster, adrenaline rushing around crazily in their blood. They were up in the clouds now. Literally.

The clouds weren't nice to them. Despite their fluffy appearance, Alex was shocked to discover that they were made of _water_. And they flew out of the cloud soggy. At least the backpack (that fitted so nicely around Jemma's shoulder blades) was waterproof.

After flying for several hours, through a mountain range, a small cave came into sight. They stopped to have a rest and to look through the bag. Because it's hard to do that while flying. Inside was a sort of box. It opened like a book and had letters on the bottom. Alex tried to read them.

"Q…w…e…r…t…y…u…i…o…p… this doesn't make any sense. Jemma…"

But Jemma wasn't listening. She knew what this was. She pressed the power button and the laptop flickered to life. It was brand new and worked perfectly.

"My dad is… or was… a computer maniac. He loved them and he showed them to me every day. I know my way around them pretty good."

"So… what does it do?"

"You can access the internet and type and um check where you are."

Jemma was born and bred in Australia. But this place was unfamiliar and was strange. Someone had gone up to her and asked her if she wanted a chup. What is a chup? The laptop opened up the internet and showed them where they were. New Zealand. That was a long way away from Australia. She trembled. They were far from home, and they needed to get back, because the Erasers or the School will find them here. This isn't exactly a big place.

Alex could tell Jemma was thinking hard again. She always chewed the inside of her lip and played with her ear. He always noticed these small things about her. He also knew she could sit like that, in a pensive state, for hours. He looked at her face. It was fuller, and her eyes glittered. She had looked happier and more worried at the same time since they escaped. He looked closely at her eyes. They sparkled with blues, greens and a hint of gold. They were different from each other, each unique and the same at the same time. They were beautiful. _She _was beautiful. She had short brown hair and a button nose. Her front two teeth were slightly bigger than her others and her ears were pierced. He didn't know what that meant, except that now Jemma could stick things in them and they won't fall out.

He tackled her to the ground to break her chain of thoughts. She didn't mind, though. They lay next to each other and looked up at the stalactites. They were large and dripped yucky tasting water onto them. Jemma smiled. Alex loved to see her smile.


End file.
